Automated assembly devices for mounting electrical connectors to a structure, such as a cable assembly, circuit board and the like, are well known in the art. Typically, a plurality of electrical connectors are held in a magazine relative to the assembly device. The connectors are withdrawn from the magazine and mounted to the structure by the automated assembly device.
There are at least two types of magazines that may be employed to hold a plurality of electrical connectors prior to mounting. One magazine type is the vertical or "penny stack" magazine, and the other is a horizontal or "end-to-end" stack magazine. Penny stack and end-to-end stack magazines each have a body portion including an inlet for loading the connectors, and an outlet for removing the connectors. These magazine bodies are designed to contain only a limited number of connectors.
Regardless of the type of magazine employed, the connectors usually have been manually loaded through the magazine inlet. Two of the most common manual methods for loading either type of magazine include the "tape and box" method and "tape and reel" method. The "tape and box" and "tape and reel" methods require the implementation of a substrate having an adhesive layer thereon that is adapted to releasably receive a number of electrical connectors. After attachment to the adhesive, the substrate is transported to the magazine location. The substrate and connectors are then placed through the inlet of either the penny stack or end-to-end stack magazine. After the electrical connectors are placed within the magazine, the substrate is pealed away from the connectors such that the individual connectors are arranged in the desired position to be withdrawn from the magazine outlet end. Employing an adhesive layered substrate to manually load connectors into magazines has several drawbacks.
One drawback is that after the substrate is peeled away from the connectors often adhesive residue will remain on some portion of a connector, rendering the connector useless. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide means for loading connectors into a magazine that would maintain the connectors within the transport device without the use of adhesive.
Another problem that may arise with adhesive residue on the connectors is that neighboring connectors stick to each other, thereby, causing the connectors to jam the magazine. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a means for preventing the magazine from being jammed due to adhesive residue.
One drawback of manually loading connectors into a magazine is that the connector contact area or connector leads can be damaged during transportation and loading. It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a means of preventing electrical connectors from being damaged as they are handled and loaded into magazines.
An additional drawback of manually loading connectors is that the magazines must be reloaded each time that the magazine is emptied. It is relatively costly to have a person transport the connectors, placed on an adhesive layered substrate, to the magazine; and reload the magazine each time that the magazine is emptied. It would, therefore, be desirable to reduce the costs that are required to load and reload connector magazines.